Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
WASHINGTON — Senate lawmakers wrote a letter calling for permanently halting financial contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency following intelligence reports that alleged that at least 12 employees from the agency were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks orchestrated by Hamas on Israel.
In the letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a group of 24 GOP senators said, "While revelations that humanitarian workers from UNRWA engaged in acts of terrorism are jarring; sadly, they are not shocking," adding that the agency has a history of "corruption, antisemitism and support for terrorism."
The U.N. employees with links to Hamas included primary and secondary school teachers as well as others who participated in attacking and kidnapping Israelis, according to the documents, reviewed by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.
The U.N. employees worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which supports 2 million civilians in Gaza with humanitarian assistance. Over 100 of their employees were killed in the first few weeks of the war.
The letter, signed by Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, noted the Trump administration's decision to stop funding the agency, a decision Biden's White House reversed. By giving $370 million to the U.N. agency since 2021, the U.S. has become its largest individual donor, despite congressional efforts to halt the aid.
The letter noted the State Department's temporary order to stop additional funding for the agency until the investigations conclude.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said he wasn't dismissing the allegations against the employees, but added that he hopes "the investigation will give us more insight," as Fox News reported.
But Republicans called for stricter action in the letter.
"The United States must permanently stop all contributions to UNRWA. Senate Republicans have introduced several bills this Congress to do just that, including UNRWA Accountability and Transparency Act," the senators concluded. This bill, cosponsored by Romney and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, restricts funding to UNRWA until the secretary of state verifies that the agency meets strict criteria, which includes not allowing taxpayer money to fund terrorism.
As the Deseret News previously reported, Lee, in a Friday social media post, also questioned why the halt in funding was only temporary.
"This isn't something that you could defend as merely warranting a 'time out,'" the Republican senator said. "U.S. taxpayers should never again be forced to give a single penny to this abomination." Back in December, he introduced a bill to defund the U.N., which, he said, would allow the U.S. to engage with the organization "on our terms, with the full backing of the Senate and an iron-clad escape clause."
On Monday, Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, introduced a bill, the Determining Excessive Funding for the United Nationals for Dereliction, or DEFUND, Act, that seeks to reevaluate what U.N. agencies further U.S. interests and are worth funding.
